Method of constructing a corrugated container



y 25, 1965 w. H. BRONTE EI'AL 3,185,045

METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING A CORRUGATED CONTAINER Original Filed July 26. 1960 INVENTORS WILL/AM H. BRONTE l .STA/VLE) LINGE/VFELTER United States Patent 3,185,045 METHOD OF CQNSTRUCTENG A CORRUGATED CQNTAINER Wiiliam H. Bronte, Oakland, and Stanley E. Lingenfelter, Concord, Qalifi, assignors to Corr-chili Container (30., Alameda County, Calif., a corporation of California Original application July 26, 1960, Ser'. No. 45,489, now Patent No. 3,063,615, dated Nov. 13, 1962. Divided and this application Aug. 27, 1962, Ser. No. 268,508

1 Claim. (U. 93-66) This is a division of application, Serial No. 45,489, filed July 26, 1960, now Patent No. 3,063,615 issued November 13, 1962.

This invention generally relates to the art of fabricating containers, and is more particularly directed towards the method of constructing a corrugated type of container.

It is generally conventional procedure to utilize corrugated containers or cartons for the packaging of such articles as canned foodstuffs and the like, but heretofore the use of corrugated cartons for containing relatively large masses of material has not been adopted due to the fact that the weight of a large number of packaged articles imposes forces on the bottom and side walls of the container which conventional corrugated paper containers cannot withstand. This is true even where the thickness of the containers has been substantially increased over that used for more conventionally sized containers.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a method of producing corrugated side walls which are extremely strong and possess structural strengths far beyond that found in conventionally designed corrugated paper cartons.

Another object of the invention is to provide a corrugated carton possessing superior strength to that found in conventional cartons whereby large size bulk containers may be provided without danger of collapsing or rupture when filled with a product.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a corrugated container of the character described and a method of constructing such a container in which the container walls are laminated to provide normally related corrugations to produce a stronger unit than that possible with the corrugations running in a single direction.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a corrugated container of the character described which may be used for the bulk shipment of such articles as fresh produce and fruitf or delivery to a cannery or the like and which may be readily collapsed into flat condition for storage and shipment.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claim.

Referring to said drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of a container constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of a blank of corrugated paper used in the construction of the container.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of another blank used in the container construction.

FIGURE 4 is a top perspective view of the blanks shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 in assembled or laminated relation.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the carton during the course of construction.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the carton shown greases Patented May 25, 1965 ice in FIGURE 1 in collapsed condition for shipment, storage or the like.

As hereinabove set forth, the container and method of the present invention are designed to provide a large bulk container which can withstand severe pressure and weight loads without collapsing or sulferingstructural failure. In order to best describe the container it is believed desirable to first discuss the principle by which the container is able to achieve the desired strength characteristics. Normally, corrugated paper containers are formed of a single thickness of such paper and with the corrugations comprising the various wall or flap members extending in a single direction. It has been found that irrespective of the wall this thickness, such a construction does not substantially increase in strength with a corresponding increase in wall thickness. Accordingly, as a principal feature of the present invention, We have ascertained that by providing the walls with a two-ply laminated construction of corrugated paper, and with the corrugations in the respective plies extending at right angles to each other, the finished laminated unit will possess a far greater strength than with a corresponding single ply construction of the same or even greater thickness.

In accordance with the present invention, the carton is constructed of two blanks of corrugated paper of any desired thickness. The first of such blanks, indicated by the numeral 12 in FIGURE 2, will constitute the generally outer portion of the container, and is in'the form of a rectangle with the corrugations 13 extending between the longitudinally extending edges 14 and 16. It will be noted that what might be termed as the lower portion of the blank is provided with a score 01'' fold line 17, and additional score lines 18, 19 and 29 are provided and extended transversely of the blank so as to divide the latter into four equal segments 21, 22, 23 and 24 which constitute the side Walls of the container. Subjacent the score line 17 and in alignment with the respective score lines 18, 19 and 20, the lower portion is cut or slitted as shown at 26, 27 and 28. It will be appreciated that by virtue of the foregoing construction, the entire blank may be folded about the lines 18, 19 and 20 so as to bring the opposing ends 2h and 31 of the blank into confronting adjacent relationship and provide an enclosed rectangle to define the carton. By virtue of the cuts 26, 27 and 28 and the fold line 17 there are defined flap members 32, 33, 34 and 36 which will constitute the bottom of the container and which may be folded into horizontal overlapping relationship in a manner generally conventional in the art. In order to secure the wall portions 21, 22, 23 and 24 in their aforementioned normally related relationship to provide the container walls, the end wall 24 is provided with a relatively narrow extension or tab extending from one edge 14 of the blank to the fold line 17, so as to provide a flap 39 which, as indicated in FIGURE 1, can overlie the section 21 and be stapled thereto for retaining the four walls in position while still permitting collapsing of the container about the transverse fold lines 18 through 20. Intermediate the extension 39 and section 24 there is provided an additional fold line 41 so as to complete the mechanism of relative folding and unfolding of the unit.

As above explained, while a box constructed with the blank of FIGURE 2 would provide an open top receptacle with a bottom formed of the sections 32 through 36, all of the side wall corrugations would be disposed in a single direction and thereby render the unit unsuitable for large volume or heavy weight capacity. Accordingly, an additional blank 41 is utilized which as will be presently explained is adapted to be superimposed upon the blank 12 and secured thereto but with the corrugations 42 thereof extending normally to the corrugations 13. The blank 41 will comprise the inner lamination of the container and is formed of generally rectangular shape having longitu- =3 dinally extending edges 43 and 44 and end edges 46 and 47. The length of the unit, that is, the distance between the ends 46 and 47, correspond substantially to the distance between the end walls 29 and 31 of the blank 12, and the distance between the edges 43 and.44 is in excess of the distance between the fold line 17 and the edge 14 of the blank 12 for a purpose presently to be explained. It will be noted that as in the case of blank 12 three trans verse fold lines 48, 49 and 51 are provided so thatfour wall segments or sections 52, 53, 54 and 56 are provided, with such sections adapted to be generally coextensive and overlie thesections 21 through 24 respectively. A longitudinally extending fold line 57 is spaced from the edge 44 at the same distance that fold line 17 of the blank 12 is spaced from the edge 14 of such blank. In other words, the effective height of the container is determined by the distance between fold line 17 and edge 14 and since the blank 41 is adapted to be inserted or be disposed within the blank 12 the lower edge 44 will be disposed immediately adjacent the fold line 17 and the fold line 57 will appear at the upper edge of the container as defined by the edge 14 of blank 12. The portion 61 which extends above the fold line 57 on the blank 41 is cut or slit as indicated at 62, 63 and 64, such cutting being in alignment with the fold lines 48, 49 and 51, so that upon lamination, slitted segment portions 66, 67, 68 and 69 may be folded downwardly over the outermost lamination formed from blank 12 and stapled or otherwise secured thereto so that in the area of the overlap, there will actually be three plies of material. By the same token, the portions 66 through 69 form a reinforcing for the upper edge of the container and prevent the exposed corrugations from otherwise appearing at the top edge of the container. As shown in FIG- URE l, the extensions 66 through 69 are stapled as shown at 71 to the subjacent laminations in the same manner as staples 72 may be utilized to secure the flap extension 39 in plate.

' With the blanks as formed in FIGURES 2 and 3, the same may be adhesively secured together as shown in FI URE 4 to provide the cross laminated construction herein- .above described. With the two blanks thus secured together the laminated structure may be folded about the transverse fold and cut lines, the flap 39 stapled into position, and the top reinforcements 66 through 69 folded over the sections 21 through 24, and the bottom flaps 32 through 36 folded normally to the wall sections to define the carton bottom. If desired, the bottom flaps 32 through 36 may be stapled or adhesively secured together, but in order to permit fiat stacking and shipment of the containers it is preferable to have the bottom flaps loose and merely folded inwardly upon use of the cartons. It has been found in practice that when the bottom is not secured, the flaps will remain in their horizontal operative position due to the weight of material within the carton and no necessity is present for having the bottom flaps secured. Obviously, it would not be possible to lift up the box by engaging the top or side Walls thereof with a load in the carton if the bottom flaps are not secured, but in practice, usually a pallet fork lift or other mechanism will be used and the box in its filled condition will remain on a generally horizontal supporting surface so that the flaps cannot move outwardly to the position shown in FIGURE 5 of the drawing. However, it is equally clear that by having the flaps loose they may be extended as shown in FIGURE 5 and the entire container collapsed about the otherwise transverse fold lines to assume the position shown in FIGURE 6 of the drawing.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that while the container of the instant invention is extremely simple in construction and does not require the use of any equipment not found in conventional corrugated paper manufacturing plants, a highly eificient and structurally strong container is provided by means of the teachings of the present invention. Obviously, while the container shown in its present embodiment is square in cross section, the same could be formed of other cross sectional shapes including cylindrical, polygonal, rectangular, etc. However, irrespective of the particular form in which the container is constructed, by utilizing the cross corrugated laminated principle, the desired objectives of the container are met.

What is claimed is:

A method'of constructing corrugated paper containers which comprises identically transversely scoring first and second blanks to form a plurality of spaced fold lines, longitudinally scoring each blank inwardly of a longitudinal edge to form a lengthwise extending fold line, slitting each blank coincidently with each transverse fold line inwardly from said longitudinal edge to said lengthwise extending fold line to form bottom wall portions on the first blank and reinforcing panels on the second blank, adhesiving securing the blanks together to form a laminate with the uncut longitudinal edge of each blank being aligned with longitudinal fold line of the other blank, folding the laminate along the transverse score lines to form a container with the second blank constituting an interior wall, connecting the terminal ends of the first blank to hold the container in a formed condition, folding the reinforcing panels downwardly over subjacent portions of the first panel to form a peripheral reinforcing edge about the open upper portion of the container, afiixing said panels to the contacted areas of the first blank, and folding the bottom wall portions of the first blank inwardly to form a bottom wall for the container.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,075,679 3/37 Weber 93-36.6 X 2,105,270 l/38 Scheifey 93-36.6 X 2,364,012 11/44 Walton et al. 93-36.0l X 2,893,617 7/59 George. 3,078,768 2/63 Kuchenbecker 93-36.6

FRANK E, BAILEY, Primary Examiner. 

